Kentucky 70, Georgia 58: Aaron Harrison scored a game-high 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting as the Wildcats pulled away from the Bulldogs to advance to the SEC tournament final in Atlanta.
James Young added 14 points for second-seeded Kentucky (24-9), which will meet Florida in the championship game on Sunday after finishing 9-of-16 from beyond the arc. Julius Randle chipped in with 12 points and 11 rebounds to notch his 20th double-double – equaling the most in a season by a Wildcats freshman – while Andrew Harrison scored 12 points and dished out nine assists.
Kenny Gaines led the way with 13 points for Georgia (19-13), which is squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. Charles Mann tallied 12 points and Marcus Thornton pulled down a team-high six rebounds for the third-seeded Bulldogs, who lost the battle of the boards 36-21.
Kentucky made seven of its first eight shots, including three 3-pointers, to take a 17-7 lead and Aaron Harrison led all scorers with 16 points in the first half as the Wildcats settled for a 36-32 edge at the break. Young tipped in Aaron Harrison's miss to stretch Kentucky's advantage to 10 with just under 12 minutes left in the final frame.
Randle converted a three-point play to give the Wildcats a 56-45 lead before Andrew Harrison scored 10 straight points to put the game out of reach. Young's dunk gave Kentucky its biggest lead of the game at 68-52 as the Wildcats improved to 38-2 all-time in SEC tournament semifinal games.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Kentucky is 117-26 all-time versus Georgia. … The Wildcats went 9-of-18 from the free-throw line while the Bulldogs finished 21-of-30. … Kentucky has made at least one 3-point field goal in 893 straight games, the third-longest streak in the nation.
Georgia | Kentucky | |
Kenny Gaines 13 | Scoring | Aaron Harrison 22 |
Brandon Morris 2 | Assists | Andrew Harrison 9 |
Marcus Thornton 6 | Rebounds | Julius Randle 11 |
Juwan Parker 7 | Free Throws Made | Aaron Harrison 4 |
Nemanja Djurisic 2 | Steals | Dakari Johnson 1 |
Kenny Gaines 1 | Blocks | Willie Cauley-Stein 2 |